


Halloween, Goodbye

by retrinazambrano



Series: Lights [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Outlaw Queen Advent Calendar 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2020-04-06 06:25:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19057048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/retrinazambrano/pseuds/retrinazambrano
Summary: The prequel to Lights: That fateful Halloween night that tore Robin and Regina apart.





	Halloween, Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> The prequel to Lights.

Regina's not really one for nervous habits, something her mother attempted to wean out of her from a young age, but today is different. Her thumbnail is jagged and rough from her constant anxious chewing as the brunette keeps glancing up at the clock. She's glad that she's not outside, for many would think she looks faintly ridiculous sitting here, blinking back tears, dressed head-to-toe in skin-tight faux leather and fur, cat ears atop her head.

It's Halloween. She and Robin were at the Nolans', all dressed up for the occasion, enjoying their first day off together in a while. With drinks in hand and good company, it was going great until the dreaded and distinctive sound of his cellphone reached her ears. Sheriff Swan needed his assistance following a robbery on Main Street and he'd told her, with a peck on the cheek and without a chance for a response, that he had to go. Of course he did; work always comes first.

She'd had the Storybrooke evening news on a low volume and all it took was a flash of red light in the corner of her eye to grab her attention. She grabbed the remote, hiking up the volume to discover that a member of Storybrooke's sheriff office had been gravely injured. Regina sat there, slack-jawed, as the report mentioned no names and only a vague account of the attack that led to such a horrifying scene.

She immediately gropes for her phone and attempts to call Robin, but the call goes through to voicemail. So she tries again and again, and again… but each time, she gets the cellphone company's infuriating pre-recorded message. She growls a little more at each attempt, eventually all but screaming a tirade of hurt into the silence before angrily ending the call.

Nothing she does shifts her mind from the one question that's driving her absolutely crazy: was it him? Her rational side does its utmost to calm her down, that if he had been hurt, his partner Will would have called her at the first possible opportunity. What if, though, he couldn't contact her because of what happened? If they didn't want to worry her? That one's going so well, she thinks, as her fingers crumple the cushion she's grasping.

She tries all she can think to distract herself; scouring the web for news articles on the attack (Storybrooke's such a small place that there's hardly anything reported, and those she does find are just a rehash of what she heard on the television), scrolling her social media mindlessly, a large glass of pinot grigio, another attempt to call her boyfriend. Nothing works.

Nothing works until she hears the sound of the key in the door as she's pouring another glass. He calls for her, like normal, and her ire heightens, jaw set, as she swipes her glass from the countertop and stomps through to the lounge. He's got a heavily bruised eye, blues and purples swirled around the delicate skin and Regina is fuming.

"Hey love," he says, face falling as soon as he sees her expression. "Regina? What's wrong?"

Oh, he's playing this game? "What's wrong? What's wrong? Robin, have you seen your face?" She doesn't even give him a chance to reply as, conveniently, the attack is being covered right that moment and she angrily points at it. "And this! Where the fuck were you? I've been trying to call."

Robin runs a hand over his face. Not again. "Regina, I've had no signal on this godforsaken thing for hours," he replies, waving his phone before realising there are a number of missed calls and that very angry voicemail she'd left approximately three hours earlier. "I'm so-"

"No, don't tell me you're sorry," she growls, her eyes dark with anger. "You said you'd be careful."

"Careful..." he says, stepping forward, meaning to comfort her but he only gets as far as putting his hands on her biceps before she's shaking him off. "Regina, we went through this last time."

"Yes, Robin, we did, and you also promised you'd be safe."

"I was!" Robin's starting to get exasperated. "I was. I was doing my job. I don't need to justify all my goddamn movements to you."

Oh, shit. Robin regrets saying that the moment he says it; he knows that she was just worried. Instead, Regina looks like she's about to explode. "You promised me you'd be okay," Regina's voice trembles but she will not cry, "but you've, yet again, got yourself into something! What if you have a concussion?" she asks and Robin shakes his head.

"I've been fully checked out. I got caught in the crossfire at this… it was…" he pauses. "It was Will that got hurt."

That revelation knocks a few tears down Regina's cheek. "Is he okay..?" Thankfully, Robin nods. "Good. Doesn't mean that couldn't have been you."

"Regina!" Robin calls out in a voice that she hasn't ever heard him speak in before. "It wasn't me, but my partner, my friend has been attacked. Stabbed. That's all you can say?" She's stunned into silence. "I can't… I can't believe you," he calls out, his voice no longer a shout but a low, gravelly tone that conveys nothing but exasperation.

"You do this all the time. You decide to really play up to that fucking legendary name and play the hero. You're not immortal, Robin. One day, I'm going to pick up that phone and find out you've been killed by some faceless criminal because yet again, you've been reckless with your life!"

It's true that Robin had been reprimanded by Sheriff Swan for his cavalier attitude in regards to his personal safety - more than once - but if he's not putting his all into this job, is he really doing all he can to keep Storybrooke safe? No.

"What? So it's okay for Will to get hurt as long as it's not me? Regina, we all have a job to do. We know that when we go out there and we catch these criminals. It's what we signed up for." Robin explains this pretty calmly, given the circumstances, but Regina's in a rage.

"I didn't sign up to watch the clock every evening to see if you made it home."

"You knew what I was when you met me," is Robin's only response.

"What if we'd had a child, Robin? What then? What if something happened to you because of your idiocy and I have to raise our baby alone… having to tell his or her father he loved his godforsaken job more than his family!"

Robin's had enough; of this day, of this stress, worrying about his friend, his wellbeing to even begin discussing hypothetical issues. "Regina, live in the real world. There is no baby," and she glares. "Of course there isn't, we can't conceive. Stop being naive. Wake up and accept it. A child isn't on the cards for us. Perhaps we're not meant to."

Her glare has become more of a stare, the blood slowly draining from her face as he utters the final nail in their coffin: "Perhaps we're not meant to be together at all." And it's not a gently spoken phrase, but a hard, grating response that has Regina stepping back, ripping off her cat ears and launching them right at his face.

He should never have said that. "Regina! God, Regina, I'm sorry, come back!" he calls, but it's too late. She has her jacket, purse and is storming to the door. "Please!"

"Not on your life, Locksley. Run back to work." she spits as she walks out the door and slams it behind her.

It's Robin's turn to call, but she doesn't respond. Karma, he thinks to himself bitterly, as he calls and calls for the first few days, then he doesn't bother anymore, respecting her space, as days turn into weeks and weeks into a month, the cold weather moving in as the seasons change. The only time she communicates with him is a soulless text to inform him that she is coming over to collect her belongings.

He tries, he really does try to apologise to her as she flits around the apartment, throwing her various possessions into boxes (David's there to help her, but he's remaining impartial in this split… someone should probably tell him that that's not how impartial works). He all but gets on his knees, begging for another chance, but her pride is too strong, the pain of what he'd said far too raw for her to consider. She barely says two words to him the entire time she's there.

Regina leaves the key on the table, not even bothering to pass it to him herself and closes the door behind her, a stone cold expression on her face. Her heart is breaking, but she's sure that, if she had stayed, she'd of had it irreversibly broken.


End file.
